Vote today, urge all party leaders

The leaders of Scotland's political parties yesterday made a final attempt to win over undecided voters amid fears that a turnout of below 50 per cent will damage the Scottish Parliament's reputation.

A month of campaigning will culminate today when the people of Scotland go to the polls to pass judgment on four years of devolution.

John Swinney, the Scottish National Party leader, last night rallied his supporters in his own constituency of North Tayside when he finished a 1,000-mile train journey across the country at Pitlochry station.

He said he was "supremely optimistic" that his party would be in a position to form a new Scottish Executive despite polls suggesting that Labour still has a substantial lead.

Jack McConnell, the Labour leader, spent the day in the Gorbals of Glasgow urging voters to cast both votes for Labour.

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Jim Wallace, the Liberal leader, had a lucky escape when a helicopter hired by his party crashed after taking him on a tour around the country.

No one was seriously injured when the aircraft crashed while landing at Oxenford, outside Edinburgh, at the end of the day's campaigning.

David McLetchie, the Conservative leader, said he was confident that his party would make gains on polling day, while Tommy Sheridan promised that his Scottish Socialist Party would "create a rumpus" in the next parliament.

The final day of the campaign was also marked by the SNP's failure to win an injunction against Labour using its logo on a leaflet warning about the cost of independence at the Court of Session in Edinburgh.

The court ruled that the logo was not being used for trade and that voters would understand that it did not come from the SNP.